A career planning or assessment test, of which there are many types, can be a valuable tool in helping you find your career direction. There are stock inventories, interest inventories, achievement and aptitude tests, personality assessments, and professional maturity tests.
Many high schools offer free career exams for students. Some colleges and universities will also provide a free professional evaluation test. Some companies even offer free professional evaluation tests for new staff. However, very often, these tests have a minimal fee. Some can be quite expensive.
There are many sites on the Internet that offer free work-related assessment tests, and some charge a small fee. As with anything else, it makes sense to compare these sites before making a financial commitment. You can take these tests for employment purposes and to find direction in your career. Or you can take the assessment tests just to satisfy any curiosity you may have about yourself.
Here are some of the sites you could research to help you in your career planning:
The Princeton Review Career Quiz: Here you will find 24 questions based on the Birkman Method, which is explained on the site. The test improves your understanding of your personality and provides you with a list of occupations that might interest you. You must register to use the site, but this is a free trial procedure.
Career decision making: This is part of the Job Search Tutorial at Saint Anselm College’s Career and Employment Service in New Hampshire. You can go online and perform the Inventory of Personal Traits, the Inventory of Labor Values, the Influence of Other Significant and Significant Factors, the Inventory of Interests; the Workshop for Working with Others and the Workshop on Skills. These tests are not standardized, but they can provide a good self-assessment. In addition, it is a free self-assessment test.
Netherlands self-directed code search: This was designed by a professional development theorist named John Holland. It is based on his theory that people have interests that fall into one to three of the following types: realistic (R), investigative (I), artistic (A), social (S), entrepreneurial (E), or conventional. (VS). This is now called the RIASEC model. When a person takes the test and gets a three-letter Holland code, they have a tool that can help them decide which occupations might interest them. Self-Directed Search (SDS) can be done directly on the website and costs nothing. However, this is not a completely free career planning test. You must pay a small fee, usually less than $ 10, to get your test results.
There are many other websites that offer professional tests. Those who charge a fee generally keep the cost to a minimum. Always thoroughly research a site before paying a high fee.
You can get started with these free evaluation tests. Then do some more research, and if you find something interesting and if the results seem to help your career planning, invest some limited funds to enhance your personal understanding. Another good source to help you navigate the most productive assessment tests are references from professional counselors and professional coaches.
